Response to broadband survey

The results of the broadband speeds survey carried out by Audlem Online users towards the end of last year were passed on to Martha Lane Fox, the UK's Digital Champion, early in December.

They have, via a somewhat circuitous route, reached the desk of Mr Simon Towler who is Head of Broadband Policy and Programmes in the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills.

To be fair to Mr Towler, once the document reached him, he has responded with a very prompt and detailed document which addresses our specific points – quite a contrast from the responses normally received (or in many cases not received) from Government departments.

Mr Towler will pass the survey data on to his colleagues in Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) – this is the team within government charged with the delivery of the government's broadband ambitions – namely that we should have the best superfast broadband network in Europe by 2015.

Our survey data will help them as they build up a detailed picture of the provision of broadband throughout the country and work with local authorities and communities in the rollout of broadband infrastructure. He has also offered to pass the survey details on to his contacts at BT who may have specific comments – we will take up this offer.

Mr Towler's response"We do get a steady flow of correspondence from consumers concerned that their broadband speeds do not match their expectations – the most common complaint being that they are paying for an "up to" speed of x MBps and it is nowhere near.

"There can be a number of reasons for this as I am sure you are aware. One of the factors is the level of traffic on the network. Peak usage hours tend to be in the early-mid evening when a lot of residential consumers are online and likely to be engaged in the sorts of activities which place the heaviest demands on the network – online gaming, i-Player use, downloading music and video. This is consistent with your survey findings where you are finding speeds are better in the morning.

"Assuming your tests to be reasonably accurate – i.e. not out by an order of magnitude – you are experiencing broadband speeds that are some way below the national average which is about 5.3 MBps.

"If the residents of Audlem are typically on 2-8 MBps services they will almost certainly be using aDSL technology – delivered over the copper telephone lines. The speed of aDSL services drops off with distance, so that the further away from the telephone exchange you are, the worse the speed (usually).

"That is also consistent with your survey findings where you note that in general distance from the village centre correlates with worsening performance. According to the BT website, your local exchange is right in the centre of Audlem and so the bulk of the village would be within a 500m radius. Those more than about 1-2km away are the most likely to suffer from drop-off in speeds.

"Speeds can be improved for customers further from the exchange by building fibre optic out to street cabinets nearer to homes – this is the approach being taken by BT in rolling out its high speed Infinity product. Other telecoms companies are also looking at innovative ways to extend higher speed services further out from the exchange. The government is also supporting rollout of higher speed broadband services (see below).

"In-house wiring can interfere with the speeds experienced by consumers – there are simple, inexpensive fixes such as the BT i-plate which can effect a significant improvement for some consumers with wiring issues. This could be an explanation for some houses with the very worst speeds – and could also explain some of the very local variations.

"You say that your survey shows a deterioration of service over the period of the survey. I am not sure that you can make that statement definitively given the methodology you describe and the level of variation – there could be other explanations such as that your readings from 17-22 September might have been anomalously high for example. Equally though I could not say definitively that there has not been a deterioriation of service.

"More generally we do recognise that ISPs need to do more to inform customers of actual performance in addition to the maximum headline download speed. Ofcom conducted work on broadband speeds over the summer and as a result strengthened its code of practice on broadband speeds for ISPs. You can find the code of practice at this web address. http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/telecoms/codes-of-practice/broadband-speeds-cop-2010/code-of-practice/

"You also referenced superfast broadband. I am pleased that you are taking a forward-looking approach and agree that higher speed broadband services are going to be essential in supporting growth in the economy. My research suggests that higher speed aDSL packages – in the range of up to 20-24 MBps – are available in your area but of course these come at a premium and our postbag suggests that it is possible that the same performance issues might arise – albeit that the speeds they would be getting would be considerably higher.

"You may be aware though that the government published its national broadband strategy on 6 December. The strategy is available at http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/business-sectors/docs/b/10-1320-britains-superfast-broadband-future.pdf

"This sets out the plans for the use of £530 million of government support for broadband rollout targetted at those areas the market is unlikely to serve because of the high costs of infrastructure deployment – most of these being rural and remote areas.

"The aim is to push the availability of superfast broadband further out to a much greater proportion of the population than the currently announced plans of the commercial providers – who will cover at least two-thirds of the population.

"BDUK will be working with local authorities on local broadband plans which will then form the basis for bids for funding and I would encourage you also to engage with your county council and encourage them to work with BDUK on this."

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